Rebecca K. Rowe
Rebecca K. Rowe earned a Master's in Mass Communications/Journalism from the University of Denver
and a Master's in International Relations from the University of Southern California.
She is the associate editor of the Speculative Literature Foundation newsletter,
as well as a member of the Denver Woman's Press Club. Her first novel was a finalist in
the Colorado Book Awards for 2007.

Rebecca K. Rowe's second novel, Circle Tide, follows in the footsteps of her first novel, Forbidden Cargo,
moving the action from Mars to an Earth that has already been affected by the developments recounted in the first
book. That includes MAM, a technology that gives anyone endowed with its abilities access to the entire library
of human knowledge, and the spread of a mysterious fungus that is threatening the habitability of buildings
across the landscape of Los Angeles.

Enter Rika Grant, a data thief charged with investigating one of the first buildings where the fungus has taken
over. Rika's implants have reacted with her brain in unexpected ways, giving her abilities that could be
perceived as a threat to both her employers at the Institute of Extended Cognition, and to their rivals and
enemies alike. When Rika's path crosses that of Noah, the least-favored son of a wealthy, powerful family,
a plot involving mystery, betrayal, hidden secrets, politics and even a bit of romance kicks off into high gear.

While Circle Tide's roots in cyberpunk are immediately evident, it's hard to look at the cover illustration and
not think of Neuromancer's Molly, Rowe combines that attitude and style with an environmental consciousness
and a look at a society built around social networks and the availability of information. It's a world where
environmental degradation has forced most of the population into narrowly defined urban areas, while the few
work to restore the remaining wilderness and resurrect the species that have been lost. It's also a world
that has been strictly separated into the haves and the have-nots, with the have-nots literally forced to
live underground. Rika and Noah's adventures take them through the entirety of this urban society, from the
underground refuges of the poor to the penthouse estates and rooftop gardens of the wealthy.

That's not to say Circle Tide is without any flaws, Rowe is a writer who is learning her
craft, and she has a tendency to throw in too much background information at the beginning of the
novel, instead of letting the characters and their actions speak for themselves. Conversely, by the
end of the novel there's a feeling that not enough has been explained about how the various power
centers in this world, from the Domus's to the Institute and a significant new religion evolved and
interact with each other. But that could also fall under the heading of leaving the reader wanting
more, and from the evidence of her first two novels that's exactly what Rebecca K. Rowe intends
to do. In that context, Circle Tide is a fine science fiction novel with characters finding their
way through a future that is both an out-growth of, and substantially different from, our own.

Reviewer Greg L. Johnson suspects that if he found himself in the world of Circle Tides, his life
would be spent in the wilderness. Greg's reviews have appeared in publications ranging
from The Minneapolis Star-Tribune to the
The New York Review of Science Fiction.
And, for something different, Greg blogs about news and politics relating to outdoors issues and the environment
at Thinking Outside.